Page 103 of All Right No
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11thJanuary, England
“Hello… Hello?” Ginny stared at her phone screen to check the caller number. “Dani? Hey, are you there?”
There was no response, leaving her to conclude this was an accidental call, rather than a deliberate one, and that the device wasn’t anywhere near her friend’s ear.
Damn, her heart had done a little excited skip over the prospect of having someone to talk to. She and Dani had more or less made their peace with one another, down to Xane’s intervention, but they hadn’t spoken very much due to the tour schedule. In fact, the only person Ginny regularly spoke to was her solicitor about all the crap she’d rather pretend didn’t exist. Miles’s counter filing now meant they were waiting on an arbitration date.
“Hey,” she said into the phone, one last time to no avail. The other end of the line was noisy. It sounded very much like a party. Most likely, Dani was backstage after the latest Black Halo gig. Ash’s song had seriously put the band on everyone’s radar again.
Ginny closed her eyes, recalling the first time Ash had playedLockdownto her, when it was still raw and unfinished, without drums or keys and the magic of Xane’s vocals. Even then, it had been something special. It was hard to believe that was—what date was it now? The 11th?—four months ago.
Hang on—the 11th. That meant the band were in Latvia. She remembered, as Ash had talked to her about visiting the Ethnographic Museum, and she’d had to confess she didn’t have a clue what that was. He’d explained it was an outdoor museum in the middle of a forest with an ancient village and windmills. He wanted to have a picnic there for his birthday.
Her jaw dropped.
Ginny closed her eyes as they filled with tears. That’s what she could hear. They were celebrating Ash’s birthday. How the heck had time got away from her so successfully that she’d hadn’t even been aware it had crept so close?
“We need to do something. This isn’t what he wants.” The voice was Dani’s, and she didn’t know how she knew, but her guts insisted her friend was talking about Ash. The snippet of conversation made her hesitate over hanging up. Did this mean he was in some sort of trouble?
“Sweetheart, he’s a big boy. He can handle himself?”
Was that Xane? She thought it was Xane. His voice sounded a little rough, must have been a tough performance.
“It’s not like he hasn’t taken a score of hot women back to his bed before.”
Oh God, no! Ginny clutched the phone tightly to her ear. Surely, he hadn’t fallen straight back into his old ways. Hadn’t he learned anything while they were together? What had happened to his self-respect? He knew those women used him, and that screwing them did nothing to fill the void in his soul. He probably wouldn’t even come, despite striving towards that end for hours. Ash only came when his heart was engaged.
“Xane, I don’t care if this was normal in the past. I don’t think it’s what he wants now. We should intervene.”
“You can’t tell a grown man he doesn’t want something when he’s happily letting a bunch of women strip the clothes off him.”
“He’s not thinking straight. Which is why we need to.”
“Dani, all that will happen if you go over there, is that you’ll cause a scene, and you’ll cement his actions. He’ll follow through purely to be contrary and prove you wrong, whereas if you let it be, it might come to nothing.”
“Yeah, ’cause that’s bloody likely.” Her friend gave an exasperated sigh.
Please stop him, Dani. Please.
“I’m not standing back and watching this.”
Oh, thank God.
“Dammit, Xane, let go of me. Luthor. What sort of friends are you that you’re prepared to stand back and watch him self-annihilate like this?”
“Barging in on him will achieve the opposite of what you want to happen.” Now Spook had joined them. “He’s set his course, Dani. I’ve tried. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“I’ve told her,” Xane said. “Dani, Ash wants to feel something. You’ve seen what he’s been like. He’s been walking around as if he’s numb.”
“So, I’m supposed to stand back and allow him to get molested. How’s that going to help him? It’s going to make things worse. He doesn’t wantthose women, he wants Ginny. He’s just too dumb and butt hurt to admit it.”
Ginny smiled despite the tears coursing over her cheeks.
“It’s not going to get that far.” That was Spook again. “Those girls are going to be sorely disappointed. They’ll be lucky if they get to first base with him, considering how much he’s had to drink. The chances are, he’s about to face plant straight into a pillow, and/or puke all over them.”
Her teary grin widened as she imagined the harpies attacking her man getting a face full of vomit. Not that he really was her man anymore.
